Woman picks up own head after horse fall

Friday, October 29th, 2010

When you read that a young woman picked up her own head after falling off a horse, you may wonder about the gruesome particulars:

Thea Maxfield, who runs a stud farm in Oxfordshire, England, suffered a “hangman’s break” a clean break of the upper cervical vertebra when she fell from her dressage horse.

She tried to get out of the animal’s way as it galloped around after the fall, but when she tried to pick herself up, the horrified 26-year-old found her head stayed where it was.

Realising she had to move to avoid being stomped on, Ms Maxfield cupped her hands around her own head and lifted it into place to avoid damaging her spinal cord.
[...]
Doctors initially warned she may be permanently paralysed.

But incredibly after using a revolutionary fixed brace connected to a computer by tiny sensors for three months to help fuse the bones back together, she is now back riding seven months after the accident.

Do they save up “news” stories like this for seven months, until Halloween?

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